PEECAUTIONS AGAINST Pleuro Pneumonia.

Otago Witness, Issue 1933, 7 December 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

PEECAUTIONS AGAINST Pleuro Pneumonia.

An adjourned meeting of ths Cattlo Board was held in Government buildings on Monday afternoon, to consider tho advisability of sfcepa being taken to guard against the introduction of pleuro-pneurnonia from Australia. There were present— The chairman (Hon. Matthew Holmes), Messrs J. Roberts, W. Cunißgham Smith, J. Shand, 11. Charters, and the iuSi-cetor (Mr A. Douglass). The Chairman said that ho Lad intended making some observations on the subject for the consideration of which they were called together, but two articles on the question had appeared in the papers— one in the Star of the 28th November, and the other in the Times of T .ho 23rd November — anticipating whhb he had ii.-tc-uticc' to saj r . There ware, however, &oinc imints which he would bring before the Lor.ru. First, as to'the magnitude oi the interests i:> volved. In the year 1885-SG the numbtr of cattle in the colony was returned as 553,358, and at the present time there must bo iuily 900,000 her.d, valued at fully £3,000,000 bterlicg. The introduction oi' picuro a little over 20 years ago had caused the loss or oucthird of our cattle ; and if the disease were again introduced and was as fatal £s it was then, there would be an iimntdiate lots ly deaths exceeding £750,000, besides the deterioration of the remainder, Wo v/tre not warranted in running thab ri=k, ami special precautions should be taken, especially in view oi the ract ih--fc the dairying industry, which "/as s^cou-i only in importance ro thii> of wool, would bo largely affected. Fleuio wouk', indeed, ainu>sfc jiuL a .;ioj> to that industry, because thu disease would he more fatal to dairy cattle than to ih.'Se running at large, 'i'he restricting of imports aud exports would be & n.t-ro nothing. Last season we only received 17 Lead from Vieron.i and one from New South Wales, aud tho=e shipped from New Zealand oiity numbered 9'uQ, valued at £9877 ; so cvtn if the imports and exports wore to cease ib would be of no great importance when weighed againsfc the risk to the industries of the country. We imported thu disease from Victoria ever 20 years ago, and lost then one-third of our stock, and the remaining M two-thirds were ho injured that ib was a longS time afterwards — some 12 or 18 months — before i|| they were of any value cither for breeding or for ||| beef. It had, indeed, always to htm seemed a j||| singular thiug how tins coloey ever got quit of 1 1 the p'.puro, bijeaust! he knew of no other place that 111 1 had got rid of it. In Great BritaiD, where it; al had prevailed for over 30 years, they bad tried i| to stamp it oat; but, notwithstanding all efforts || by scientific men up to the present time they Il| had made uo j>ro^reps, aud ifc was now of &o h| virulent a type that they had resolved on killing "m all the animals as they became affected as the M only mpans of getting rid of the disease. In- M oculation had been tried, but wia found to K';ct fj very libtle use. The etaie of matteis was poiao- » what similar in Australia, where the disease liad a existed for over 20 year.-. At the Sydney Ccrtler- | cuce, on the discussion as to whether they should & Oi<en their ports for the introduction of calilt, ji there was a very Harn»'v division, and .soirj* of 1 tho bc-sfc men wore bilierly opposed to it— 1 among tueiii a mun of grtab experience. Ho s referred to Mr Kcrr, head of the 1 Cattle dupartrnent in Victoria. Kinder- 1 pest and foot-and-mouth riis.?:>-o hud bcru m {stamped oub at Horuc, and there was only 1 one (. iseafe to by guarded agiia i <t iv Au-lra- M lia; so he (the speaher) did i.-o l^ ;-eo \\}\\ the 1 Victorians should be co auxiou;- to have quaran- I tiue, for they were nob exposed to the inuoJuc- I tion of a new disease aft ali. To bhov/tlic dagger a ITow Zealand ran owing to the uncertain action 1 of Government iv the matter of quarantine-, ho 1 would mention that at the show lie saw three 1 animals thab had been exhibited iv Victoiia .six a weeks Pgo. If these aniusels had <he {jcrms of i the disease at all, their mixing v.ith our animals I mighi send the diae.ise throughout the coiouy. I This matter Wf.s, as he h.ul naid, of jjrrai | importance, cr-pecialiy aa affectiiii; dairying 1 cattle. This colony had been iiee iVoni plouio 1 for over 15 years, and he did not think v.-tj | should run (he risk of its introduction again. | Those were his ioVas, and he was ijow ready to | hear any proposition as to what shot^d by dons. I Mr Roberts cii tidily agreed si ato the advis- I ability of securing quarantine regubtious which | would prevent the inrroduction of the fliser^e. ■ As to the importation and pxportf.tion of catUe, the import?, he thought, would pcobably cpa [ ,c if a more &tringcub quarantiut; v/oro impose 1; ' but that would ba of no xaement to ihis color- j. As to the exportatiens, that was a sirsall moMrv compared \7itli the inipoitauce of thy other :übject. I Mr Smith remarked thrJ of the 000 cart..-; 1 exported, 423 went to Victoria, 2GI to Nt\v I South Wal&s, ard only 43 to Tasmania. » In reply to Mr Robsrls, tho Chairman said 1 these figures wc-re from the latest; rcluru'j ava;l- M able— viz , thoee for 1886 87. £Ir Roberts said thab in any ra?e the loss that might result from tha stoppage of exportations wonld be as nothing to what would bo caused by the introduction of picuro. He would move formally — •• That representations be made to the Government:, urging tho necessity of immediately imposing a five months' quarantine on all cattle arriving from Australian ports." Mr Charters seconded the motion, aud in doing so endorsed the remarks that had been] made by the other speakers. Ifc wp.s their O.xxtyi to try by all means ro prevent tha disease ft'Ciaj coming to thJ3 country. I Mr Suand said that his experience, of th<i disease in The old country was very froa'l, as lie was only I'd years of age then — too young to remember much about it. Ho had, however, had it amongst his cattle hf-rf; soloc yici> '"go, raid lost half of Ihern, si.d as .snon as the dLi-«:sa made its appearance he could neither buy ucv sell. But in the course of a couple ol' yt-irs if, seemed to die out. Ho quite agtetd with what the chairman had said. We had tLe be.-.t of blood here, and should protect ib. He voukl heartily support the motion, as ifc was certainly to the interest of New Zealand to use the utmoefc exertions to stop the introduction of disease. I>lr Charters agreed with what the U'Sfc speaker had said. The disease had not been experienced by his stock very badly, but he had. had ono or two cases both at East and West Taieri. One settler he kne-.v had lost 80 out of 100 head of cattle. The speaker was livn g at Waipori at the time he referred to, and had a paddock by the river where one or two cases occurred. The cattle were put by themselves, and lived through ifc, but they had to be k?pt a loop; time, aud then sold as f-.tore cattlo, for th'sy never got tat. There was more disease through the Taieri, and people said that a third died, bub the speaker thought far more did, as many had to be shot . Tho dairying was nc-xb in importance to the woolgrowing industry, and he thought ifc was their duty to do their best to fee cattle disease did not land here, as it would be ruination to the country. Mr Smith thought they should communicate with the other cattle boards iv the colony, because ib was no good their keeping out cattle if the others did not. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously, and ifc was further resolved — " That a copy of the foregoiDg resolution be sent to the different catfcle boards iv the colony asking their co-operation." The Chairman remarked that he saw by the newspapers complaints had been made by some people that we had no quarantine ground in this part of the colony. But he hiaaself was much rejoiced at that, and would rather pay his share of the expense of taking cattle from Lyttc-lton to wherever they were intended for than that we should have a landing place here. Ib was jusfe so much longer safety for us.